NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hedge Fund Association announced today new regional leadership appointments that demonstrate the HFA’s enduring commitment to growth and diversity. Victor Hugo Rodriguez, the first director of the HFA’s LatAm Chapter, is passing the reins to prominent hedge fund industry pioneers Juan Garrido and Les Baquiran.
Juan Garrido is global head of investment solutions at BBVA Global Private Bank in New York. He has almost two decades of market experience and a sound understanding of asset and wealth management, financial products and services, and infrastructure. Juan oversees BBVA’s Wealth Management’s global investment strategy, asset allocation and recommended catalog of products and services, is a member of the Global Private Banking Steering Meeting, and chairs the Global Wealth Management Meeting.
Les Baquiran was a New York-based principal at Park Hill, an alternative investment placement agent that is part of the Blackstone Group. Prior to joining Park Hill, he was a Managing Director at ISI in Institutional Sales and before that worked at Brown Brothers Harriman as an Equity Research analyst. Les has guest lectured or advised on curriculum on investment management and emerging markets at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and New York University.
“Victor is clearly a hard act to follow but Les and I both look forward to facing the challenge of further developing the HFA's activities in the Latin America region,” said Juan Garrido, Co-Director of the HFA’s LatAm Chapter. “I agree wholeheartedly. Whichever metaphor you choose to describe the magnitude of what lies before us, we will both need to be at our best to match, let alone emulate, what Victor has achieved to date,” added Les Baquiran, Co-Director of the HFA’s LatAm Chapter.
Victor Hugo Rodriguez became the director of the HFA's LatAm chapter when it was launched in March 2011. The founder, president and CEO of LatAm Alternatives, he has over 17 years of experience in management, sales, marketing and business development within the securities industry in the U.S.-LatAm region. He was partner and head of Latin American Prime Brokerage for Merlin Securities and Director of Global Institutional Sales at TradeStation Securities. He has also been a live TV economics news anchor.
“It has been a privilege to head the HFA's efforts in Latin America over the past two years,” he said. “I know that Juan and Les will strive just as hard to carry on all the good work we have done in that time, and I will of course remain available to help and advise them when and where necessary.”
“These appointments are designed to maximize the impact that the HFA already has in the LatAm region, and I am certain they will do just that,” said Mitch Ackles, HFA President. “The diversity and richness of the talent available to our members in Latin America and around the world never fails to impress me.”
About The Hedge Fund Association
The Hedge Fund Association is an international not-for-profit organization made up of hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, financial advisors, and service providers. In the U.S., the HFA has chapters in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and on the West Coast. Internationally, the HFA has chapters in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and the Cayman Islands. HFA works on behalf of the entire hedge fund industry, including more than 10,000 hedge funds in the U.S. and abroad which collectively manage in excess of $2.4 trillion in assets, as well as sophisticated investors and industry service providers.
